As we work to bring even more value to our audience, we’ve made important changes for those who receive Ad Age with our compliments. As of November 15, 2016 we will no longer be offering full digital access to AdAge.com. However, we will continue to send you our industry-leading print issues focused on providing you with what you need to know to succeed.

If you’d like to continue your unlimited access to AdAge.com, we invite you to become a paid subscriber. Get the news, insights and tools that help you stay on top of what’s next.

Faith in Institutions

The anti-government grumble, which resounded in America before
Sept. 11, rings somewhat hollow in these patriotic days. Once
distrustful and disparaging of their federal institutions â€”
turned off by big government, complex electoral procedure, bloated
bureaucracy and perceived corruption â€” these days, Americans
are pledging allegiance not only to the flag, but to every
governmental agency with a flagpole. In fact, Americans' trust in
government has soared to its highest levels in 30 years, according
to numerous polls.

In the 1950s, when pollsters began asking Americans about their
attitudes toward government, trust and pride ranked among the
highest worldwide. Watergate and the Vietnam War are largely
credited with the waning of such sentiment in the early 1970s, a
trend that continued and was intensified by Ronald Reagan's
anti-government rhetoric in the 1980s, and the Contract with
America crowd in the mid-1990s. According to a New York
Times/CBS News poll taken in 1998, 26 percent of Americans
â€” barely 1 in 4 â€” trusted the government to do what's
right â€œmost of the time.â€?

But times have changed. When New York Times/CBS News
polled Americans in late September 2001, 55 percent said they
trusted the government to do what's right â€œmost of the
time.â€? A poll of 800 nonfederal workers, conducted by
Washington, D.C.-based Hart-Teeter between Oct. 12 and 14, 2001,
found attitudes toward government much improved following Sept. 11.
A solid majority â€” 68 percent â€” s aid they thought of
the federal government as â€œour government,â€? as
opposed to â€œthe governmentâ€? (30 percent). This
was a reversal of responses from Hart-Teeter's May 1999 poll, when
more (55 percent) thought of it as â€œthe governmentâ€?
than â€œour governmentâ€? (42 percent).

Fear and Mistrust

American wariness of government was
well established prior to Sept. 11, but it wasn't at an all-time
low. The lowest levels recorded by the University of Michigan's
biannual National Election Study were back in 1994, when
Republicans took over Congress, promising to get rid of â€œbig
government.â€? A majority of Americans â€” 3 in 4 â€”
agreed at the time that Washington was only likely to do what's
right none or some of the time. By 2000, that had fallen to 56
percent, and the percentage saying Washington does what's right
most of the time or always doubled to 44 percent. Nonetheless,
compared with the record high of 76 percent who believed government
does what's right back in 1964, the figure has decreased
considerably over the past 40 years. Trust in politicians, however,
is dismally low. A July 2000 Harris Interactive poll found cynicism
running high. Nearly half (49 percent) said that â€œquite a
fewâ€? of those running government were â€œa little
crooked.â€?

DISTRUST OVER TRUST

At this time last year, only 1 in 5 Americans trusted the
people running the White House.

As far as the people in charge of running [each of the
following] are concerned, would you say you have a great deal/quite
a lot of trust in them?

1/01

1/00

1/99

The military

44%

48%

54%

The U.S. Supreme Court

35%

34%

42%

The White House

21%

21%

22%

Executive branch of federal government

20%

18%

17%

Congress

18%

15%

12%

Source: Harris
Interactive

For Love of Government

Today, love of country seems to have expanded into love of
government. According to the Gallup Organization, the post-Sept. 11
surge in faith in government is the highest seen since 1968, before
civil unrest, social revolutions and various other events brought
the level of trust to new lows. In 2000, 42 percent of Americans
said they trusted the government to do what's right always or most
of the time, according to Gallup. A poll conducted Oct. 5 to 6,
2001 shows 60 percent of Americans saying the same.

Gallup also shows the number of Americans saying the government
should do more to solve our country's problems is at an all-time
high (50 percent). In a survey taken between Sept. 7 and 10, only
36 percent of Americans agreed that the government should step up
to the plate, while 55 percent said the government was already
doing too much. The percentage of Americans agreeing that public
officials don't â€œcare much about what people like me
thinkâ€? fell from 59 percent in 1992, to 41 percent this past
October.

RISING PRIDE

Almost 2 in 3 Americans now trust the government to do what's
right at least most of the time.

Some people think the government is
trying to do many things that should be left to individuals and
businesses. Others think that government should do more to solve
our country's problems. Which comes closer to your view?

PRE-ATTACK: 9/7-10/2001

POST-ATTACK: 10/5-6/2001

Government doing too much

55%

41%

Government should do more

36%

50%

I don't think public officials care much what people like me
think.

AGREE

DISAGREE

Oct. 5-6, 2001

41%

57%

Sept. 11-15, 1992

59%

38%

Source: Gallup Organization

Bravo, Bureaucrats!

It seems highly unlikely that the IRS has done anything
radically different this past year that might account for its
tremendous 19-point boost in positive public opinion ratings. Yet
according to a nationwide Harris Interactive poll of Sept. 19 to
24, the tax agency's public image has improved considerably since
the poll was last taken in September 2000. The most likely
explanation is runoff from the general rally around the flag
phenomenon that has characterized Americans' attitude toward
government since Sept. 11. Highest on the list of approved agencies
are those dealing with health (nearly 8 in 10 Americans viewed the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention positively in late
September 2001), since they are responsible for investigating
recent and future threats of anthrax, and biological warfare in
general. Rating lowest are the CIA (57 percent view the agency
positively) and the Federal Aviation Authority (54 percent) â€”
both perhaps considered partly responsible for not better preparing
the country for or preventing the events of Sept. 11.

AGENCY OF FAITH

Americans' increased trust in government extends throughout
the bureaucracy.

Percent viewing the following agencies positively:

SEPT-01

SEPT-00

CHG.

The Centers for Disease Control

79%

78%

+1

The National Institutes for Health

77%

63%

+14

The Securities & Exchange Commission

71%

53%

+18

The Federal Bureau of Investigation

68%

n/a

n/a

The Environmental Protection Agency

64%

56%

+8

The Internal Revenue Service

63%

44%

+19

The Social Security Administration

60%

48%

+12

Central Intelligence Agency

57%

n/a

n/a

The Federal Aviation Administration

54%

58%

-4

Source: Gallup
Organization

THE BOTTOM LINE

While approval of the president and Congress are traditionally
volatile, attitudes toward government agencies generally tend to be
more stable, and much more reflective of Americans' underlying
attitudes toward politicians. The fact that these indexes changed
so dramatically following Sept. 11 is significant.

At the same time, chances are this increase in faith in
government is probably more a result of post-Sept. 11 and the
wartime rally effect than of a lasting shift in sentiment or
philosophical outlook. As such, it may be a superficial or
short-lived change. Americans' fundamental mistrust of government,
and the 30-year decline of trust in federal government, cannot be
erased by the Sept. 11 tragedy, no matter how deeply it affected
our society.

WHAT THIS MEANS TO YOU

A strong message emphasizing the power of the private sector,
particularly important in the 1990s â€” characterized by the
anti-government mood and the dot-com euphoria â€” is
particularly inappropriate now. Phrases like â€œthe power of
free enterpriseâ€? and â€œthe primacy of the private
sectorâ€? no longer pack the same punch.

New key words like â€œcooperation,â€?
â€œconsensusâ€? and â€œtogetherâ€? â€” concepts
that unite and connect, rather than differentiate and divide
â€” could be powerful components in marketing messages.

Companies might want to show they're working with the
government in the public interest. For example, Hollywood is
working with Washington on wartime films, advertising agencies are
consulting on public image campaigns (with Charlotte Beers, former
Ogilvy & Mather and J. Walter Thompson chair, on the Washington
forefront) and businesses in New York City are cooperating with
local government to revitalize the metropolitan area's economy.
Promoting these types of cooperative campaigns might prove a strong
PR move.